Re: Poll: How helpful is feeling techniques in learning aikido for you?

Don M. said: "Hi, David,
We in the ASU fold aren't real strong on the terminology of aikido. In John's dojo, SUMI OTOSHI throws to the front. This is what I mean by the term, too. That's different than the way that, say Mifune Kyuzo's did, though. Both do throw to A corner..."

I looked the throw up on google images and realized my error - for once though I chose to be silent and try not to make it worse! The last ten years I have focused on 'doing' life and my vocabulary has slipped - aided by the sudden onset of middle age - so strange to see an over forty face in the mirror.

Re: current discussion I will hazard to add that it is the feeling during koshi, or falling, ukemi that set me free when I was a teenager. That feeling of accepting without fear or tension I think is what makes us really learn and really know our bodies - and the truth of the world around us.